Hunting the prey
by Slain.the.Panda
Summary: Just recieving a Big shot spike sets out to cap a bounty.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN COWBOY BEBOP I AM JUST WRITING A FAN FIC.

INTRODUCTION The setting takes place in one of the moons of Saturn, Cosmos. Cosmos is one of the most faraway posts of the ISSP, however, it doesn't mean that place is safer than the rest of the Solars System. Several drug producing and dealing groups have been promoting Cosmos as the main hub of the "Bloody Eye" and other minor drugs applied through the eyes there. The reason is that the ISSP was spread too thin, and the officers all arund Saturn were "fixed". The nearest honest group of ISSP officers was two planets away. Due to that fact, Cosmos not only has the cheapest prices on the Bloody Eye and lower derivates, but also has one of the largest numbers of nightclubs and night-life places since the Earth was almost destroyed.

Down at the Zodiac Nightclub, the crowd was impatiently waiting their turn to get in. It was one of the nights with the most attendance in the last years and the merchandise was selling quickly. A nervous truck driver went inside the club through the backdoor Services entrance. He was squishing his small green cap with the logo of a Pegasus. Several minions instructed him to go foward, then to the right, then to the left, then foward again to reach the VIP Room number 3. There he would be received.

The Truck Driver nervously knocked before entering, just to be respectful.

"Come on in!" an unfamiliar voice to him called out. The Driver did so. The placed was guarded by some really stone-like guards, both in attitude and strengh. The man the voice belonged to was sitting near the farest edge of the room, next to the glass that showed the dance floor. "Have a seat, boy". The Driver did so. "Ok, so let's see. You must be Hiromi, am I right?"

"Yes, sir" Hiromi said weakly.

"Calm down, son" the Man said getting out a cigarette. He didn't make eye contact with Hiromi at all, he just got up and stepped next to the glass watching the people dancing through the lights. "There is nothing to worry about. Except, of course, about that cargo you delivered a day late. Does this sound to you?"

"Y-y-yes, sir."

"That material should've been here yesterday, son, not today. Sounds like a small difference, right? But not in this business, because if you bring the material late, the merchandise gets done late, and the selling, not to mention the distribution throughout the whole system, gets even latter. Did you know that, with your cargo getting here late, I may be delivering this lot late for, say, 3 days to a week?" The Man started getting more tense. "So tell me: What am I supposed to do while I wait, sing a ballad to my buyers? Apologize to those thousands of addicts in this damn city?!" he said turning suddently to Hiromi for an answer.

"Well--"

"Nothing is well! And who told you to speak again!" he barked out. One of his thugs slammed a pistol on Hiromi's face. Hiromi was cracking down, emotionally. "Boy, you better keep your yap shut until I tell you to open it! I handle the manufacture and distribution of drugs in this whole damn town, and you are making my business a whole lot harder. So tell me fella, what are we going to do here?!" he roared at the defenceless Driver.

"Please!" Hiromi fell to his knees, "please don't kill me!" he burst out in crying. The Man shaked his foot off as if he was stepping mud. He turned again to watch the dancefloor.

"I'll tell you what I'll do: I'll give you a try of the hardest product we got, the Bloody Eye. Maybe then, you will understand why I am so concerned about you, as one of my Truck Drivers, with the success of this business". One of the Man's thugs grabbed Hiromi, pulled him up, and opened wide one of his eyes. Another guy sprayed some red liquid over his eye. Soon, Hiromi started jerking moves and trying to get rid of the two thugs. He started shrieking, trembling, and then just fell to his knees again, exhausted. "You see, that's how it works. You got to be a tough guy to hold on this one, but once you can do it, you get something, you want more. Now you understand me, boy. Unfortunately..." the Man turned to Hiromi and pulled out a pistol, "our business here has been unsatisfacctory" he spelled out, "so it must be ended now."

The bullet went through Hiromi's face. Still with one of his eyes all red, he fell on his back to the floor. The two thugs backed off.

"Call in the Cleaning fellas" the Man said, "we got trash to throw out"  
-  
Scientists still haven't determined the number of moons and satellites of Saturn, so I'm developing this story in some that still hasn't been found

CHAPTER 1: Hunting the prey "There is something good and something bad about living in space. Everything has a good and a bad side, that's the balance of life" Jet reflexed, no matter if someone was hearing him or not. "The good part is the endlesssness. Being in the real middle of nowhere can give you all the time to think, all the time to relax, all the time to rest. Why you have all the time? Because there is no time, it's endlessness. But endlessness is also the bad part, because there is no time. So when you are tired or rested? It's the endless day and the endless night, so you really can't tell when you have to be asleep or awake. That's a big problem" he continued whirling his heard in small circle patterns.

That was really a problem, Jet had been awake for 2 days and a half. Not having time really let him confused. Well, some liters of coffee also claimed their share.

"Jet, for crying out loud, get to sleep" Spike moaned, "I'm getting sick of that 'endlessness' crap you've been saying for the last hours. Give me a break". He threw him a pillow to his head, but Jet almost didn't react. He just stayed freezed with the pillow over his head. The coffee had really a nice share of Jet's brain twisted, insomnia was draining him out. "Why don't you watch some TV, that will get you asleep" Spike said turning on the screen over the table. "Infomercial, infomercial, news, news, kids' hour, kids' animé. What time is it?"

"How could I know? You can't tell if its night or day in space. There's always a sun, but it's always dark anyhow. Who knows if there is day or night in space? It's endlessness, Spike..." said Jet in slow motion until he finally pounced down on his pillow. Spike drew off a cigarette.

"They say you need five days awake to get mad, but you sure did the job quick, Jet" Spike muttered as he lighted his cigarette. He patted Jet's shoulder, "That's my partner". He kept zapping through channels. The way it looked, it was still very early. Then, the program he would least expect came on air.

Big Shot for the Bounty Hunters.

"How are my bounty hunters doin'?" said Punch.

"It's time for your favorite program, and today we got this flash for you" said Judy and she made a shooting gesture with her hand.

"Our news today are the hottest. Maybe some of you cowboys have only gone as far as Jupiter for money, but today we're in the bounties of Saturn."

"Yes, many of the bounties are in for big bucks!"

"Since many of these guys are dangerous, if you deliever them by today, you get your Double Bonus!"

"But only for today. Tomorrow you will only the number we show here."

"The top bounties in..."

Spike just hated when those guys took so long to announce bounties. Most of the time it was because the bounties were not suitable for the time they were airing in, like in this case. So Spike just went to the bounty list of Saturn's moons by himself. Indeed, it seemed like there were many cases in the list, but the top ones ranked in Saturn's most faraway moon, Cosmos.

"Stop right there" Spike said when he looked at the top bounty. "Aldebaran" he read, "drug producer and dealer. Reward: 6,000,000 woolongs. Nice." But then he gazed to the sleeping beauty he was seating over. "This guy's not opening his eyes until christmas" he thought, "But I think I can handle it by myself. We were going near Saturn anyway."

Spike got to the command post. It took him some time, but he re-  
programmed the auto-pilot to go to Cosmos. "You will be routed to your new destiny as soon as possible. An extra of 7,500 woolongs will be added to your travel fare for unespected travel route change" the computer ringed, "thank you for using the Space Gate."

"Thank you for stealing me that cash" Spike muttered as he went to check on his ammo supplies. The rest of the trip was very smooth and slow, Spike was starting to feel sleepy himself.

Finally, Spike decided to have a quick nap, until Jet woke up suddently and started babbling again about endlessness and a new subject, the way machines were taking over humans. "Jet, you need some sleep" Spike warned with the last bit of his patience.

"No, I don't" Jet practically yawned, "and if I go to sleep, the auto-  
pilot could take us to the Sun instead of Ganymede."

"Talking about that, we will make a litte detour to Cosmos" Spike grinned.

"Cosmos! That's too far away, Spike. Don't tell me you already traced the route" Jet whimpered slamming his forehead.

"Alright, I won't tell you. Besides, I found a 6 million woolong prey for it."

"Let me guess, Aldebaran."

"How do you know that?"

"Bob. Always going for the biggest bounty on the table, aren't you?"

"Just trying to get money for next meal, Jet."

"Spike, we can't go for a druglord. He's probably walled up with thugs. It's not worth it" protested Jet as he sneaked a thermos flask with coffee towards one of his legs.

"You can 'sleep' this one out if you want. I need to get far from you before you start a new theory. By the way, you're contradicting yourself" pointed out Spike as he took a glance at the thermos flask.

"If you listened me carefully, I neved said endlessness didn't let you think" predicted Jet while he helped himself a cup of coffee.

Spike snapped the cup and the thermos from him. "Okay, Jet, no more coffee for you". 


	2. Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2: Tilting The BeBop Spaceship docked on the Red District. Since Cosmos was very small, no big ships were allowed on the planet. Cosmos was plain tourism and nightclubs, even the ones that worked there lived on residential satellites, every day going back and forth in the shuttle. Life in the endless rings of Saturns was always like that. Commercial satellites, residential satellites, and industrial satellites. That was the easiest way of zoning such small lands without citizens complaining.

So... no big spaceships allowed, no workers live there, no action at daylight, and shipping during nights. Could there be an easier way for druglords to operate? Besides, they got many of their merchandise sold the same night to the thousands that flooded dance clubs and partyhalls.

Spike and Jet started wondering around the Red District Station. After thirty minutes searching, they realized that there were no flights to Cosmos. Jet gave out a huge yawn, then barked at the information officer. "What do you mean the route is closed?!"

"That's a new law issued by the ISSP" the officer, a young 25-year or around guy, said standardly "No travel allowed to commercial satellites before bussiness hours"

"A new law? But that's ridiculous!" he blowed out. He turned to Spike, then turned back to the officer. "You mean there is no way we get the merchandise to the 'the place' during this hours?" Spike finally drew his attention into the chat.

"The place?" the officer repeated confused.

"Yeah, the place" Jet said through one end of his mouth , then backed off, "but, you seem to don't know what I'm talking about. New guys, never trained." He laid a hand over Spike's shoulder like trying to show him to the officer. "Just let me know where me and my 'assistant' can have a word with your boss." Jet gave Spike a small step in the foot so he could raise his arms. That's when the officer noticed the guns.

The officer gulped nervously. He checked into one of his file drawers looking for something. He took out a red envelope and handed it over to Jet who gave another yawn before catching it. "T-this wil g-et you past. Just hand it to the guys at the Services office and they will give you a pass for your transport."

Spike took the envelope and opened it. It was empty.

"I-t's meant to be j-just a symbol, that's what they told me. It shouldn't have anything, right?" the officer asked.

"Okay, boy, you did good. Keep up the work" said Jet and he started leaving. "Get going, Ikki" he said to Spike.

"S-s-sir, I think he means you. That's your name, right?" the officer said to him. Spike got mad, but all he could do was to nod and and go behind Jet until they got far enough. Then Spike started the question round.

"The Place? Ikki? Red Evelopes? Could I get to know some answers, 'boss'?" Spike asked in a bad mood. Nobody stepped on his foot and make him bite his cigar just for fun.

"Yeah, all that" Jet said nervous, "Well, I had to make up a story for us to get the BeBop through. Now that we have the envelope, we can get the pass and get down to Aldebaran's city to catch him." Some minutes went by with both of them walking, none of them talked.

"You still haven't answered me" Spike moaned.

"What? You mean the red envelope and stuff? I got some information bits from Bob, he happens to know something about how druglords arrange the gate with the police to work freely. It's so easy to get the trucks through pretending it's supplies for the nightclubs." Another couple of minutes passed by, both remained silent as they walked.

"You still haven't answered me" Spike moaned again.

"Huh? What didn't I explain yet?"

"Why you called me Ikki?"

"Ah, that. I heard it on one of the kids channels you zapped by. A really old show, I think they were still hand-drawn on those times." Finally, they made it to the Services Office. The first question Jet asked, feeling his eyes would just drop out of his face, was: "Why do they place the Services Office and the Information Office in different extremes of the floor?" Then he straightened up and showed the envelope.

---

The path was incredibly clear down to Cosmos, no flying ads, no traffic, no problems. Obviously, there were never many problems with a colony only acessed by a few shuttles. The first view Jet and Spike got from Cosmos was very inspiring: a ghost town.

"There is not a bare soul in this place" Spike remarked, just in case.

"Well, what were you expecting?" Jet questioned him between yawns, "except from one or two bums left on their own at closing time, this place can't be habitated. But nightclub offices should be open." No, they weren't, offices were closed too. "Ok, so offices aren't open either. Well, there has to be some place over here where the drugs arrive. This is the perfect time."

"Hey, you! The strange guys over there" someone shouted, "would ya keep it low, fellas? I'm trynia' sleep." A dirty, sleepy drunk with the galaxy's greatest hangover was trying to pretend he could sleep near a nightclub using his stepped coat as blanket. Spike approached the guy.

"Hi, there, buddy. Do you happen to have seen somethig strange around here lately?" he asked as if it were the most common question.

"I'm alone here, bucko. Except for you two bothering, buzz off."

Spike grinned. The guy felt the cold front of an Israeli Jericho 941 in his forehead. "I think we are not bothering you too much. If you care to answer, I know a good remedy for the hangover."

The guy tried to sit up. He featured a repulsive shrug. "Are ya bounty hunters?"

"Just trying to pay for the meat. So, did you see any movement at all?"

"Just a few guys moving some boxes to that club over there" the guy said pointing out a nightclub at the other side of the street. "Ya know what time is it?"

"Huh?" said Jet suddently feeling sleepy again, "and who cares what time is it? here in space its endlessness. You never know--" Spike knocked his speech out with his left elbow. "According to the clock over there, it's near 11:30... am."

"Well, then I better get running. Party's gonna start again." the guy said standing up.

"So early?" Spike asked.

"Not here. Party at 12:00pm, party at 12:00am. This whole sky is fake. In some minutes it will go wide dark all over the place and people from the other satellites will start coming to the party. I better get in the shuttle before they leave me here one more day." The bum started walking clumsily to the shuttle station.

"Well, at least we got a hint" Jet said.

"The place the guy mentioned is Aldebaran's?" Spike asked.

"Why don't you take a read in the sign" Jet groaned. The sign said "Zodiac Nightclub". The banner next to the sign had the Taurus constellation and a big Aldebaran on it. Spike didn't said anything more. Jet yawned one more time.  
-  
"And now its time... for a commercial" (Punch, Cowboy BeBop the Movie). This would be the part where the eyecatch is shown and we go for a commercial break. I know this last two chapters may have a little too much comedy for these two guys, but now action is starting. Wait for the next chap.! 


	3. Chapter 3

CHAPTER 3: Lets Jam "Are you sure of what you saw? 'Cause I ain't got time for fooling around with false feelings" Aldebaran said paying no attention to the bum in front of his desk.

"I'm serious, sir. These guys are bounty hunters and they're coming for ya. Any big sum is enough for those kind of guys to get even to the Sun" the guy confirmed.

"Okay" Aldebaran said and them he pushed one of the buttons of his intercomm, "Sergio, we got some... unwelcomed guests that are gonna arrive soon. Could you and your guys be kind enough to send them away?"

A man laughed at the other side of the chat. "Yes, Mr. Aldebaran, we will take care of that problem in no time, sir".

"I like hearin' that" he said, then he pushed another button on the telcomm.

"What can I do for you, sir?" a sweet-voiced secretary asked.

"If anydoby needs me, I'll be at Room 3" he informed her, then he finally hanged. He turned to see the bum. "Are you still here? Don't know your way out of the room, son?"

"Yes... but. Ain't you gonna give me anything for this information."

"What do you want? You owe me quite a sum for the damage you've done to my business for fooling around with drugs. Now you work here, got nothing to pay to you. Now get out before you lose something".

Spike loaded his gun and placed a few replacements on his pocket, but he also loaded a second gun just in case. Jet got his pistol ready for action and weared his heavy coat for the introduction. The plan was going to be simple: They would try to get in with disguises until they could make it to Aldebaran. If the thing didn't work, guns out. If the thing did work and they got to see Aldebaran, guns out too.

"This is not going to work" Spike said, "how do you expect to get inside a gangter's office dressed like gangsters?"

"Lower guys will think we're here for a meeting" Jet explained.

"Aren't meetings supposed to be in neutral places were no gang has the upper hand?"

"That's what the want the cops to think, so they will always look at the wrong place. Besides, who's gonna think I don't have the upper hand with Ikki by my side, huh?" he insisted giving a gentle hit on Spike arm.

"Have you been drinking coffee lately, Jet?"

"No, just getting in my character."

"It seems to be worse than drinking coffee."

Jet finished loading himself and getting dressed with a fine suit and a mosdest hat. Spike just got some dark glasses, bodyguard outfit wasn't so complicated. Then they finally left the BeBop and got back to the main street.

The welcoming comitee was already there. Sergio walked up to the front of 5 men in black suits with different kinds of SMGs or pistols. "Hi, gentlemen. Any business for the time?"

"We're here to so see Mr. Aldebaran, if you care" Jet said.

"I'm so sorry, gentlemen. You see, in a few minutes the employees are gonna start coming to set up the party, also people will come a bit latter. He asked not to be bothered now that business is starting again."

"Sorry" Spike grinned, "we just don't seem to have time to come another day, so why don't we make the try?"

"Well, you damned bounty hunters, you're gonna have to walk over me to do that."

"Sounds fair to me" said Spike.

Before anythig else could be said, Spike and Jet dashed through the street for cover from the various shppting of the bad guys. Jet got a good shock, possibly, he would never sleep again. Spike got behind a turned table, shooting every now and then. After a few seconds, two of Sergio's boys were down.

"Spike!" Jet called, "get going! I'll take care of the rest!"

Spike didn't question. He started rolling the table the tableto the side so that he could move and have cover at the same time. When he was by the right side of the road, where Jet was, he rolled it at the other guys, to give the distraction needed to go ahead.

Spike took quite a dash and blasted another henchman in the run. He wondered how would Jet take care of the three guys, Sergio included, he left behind. Then he heard a grenade explote. Just when he thought Jet's coat seemed a bit too heavy...

The main door of the nightclub busted open. Several employees cleaning the place turned their attention to the intruder and shouted for security. Two guys got from upstairs to shoot the intruder, other two runned to the floor itself to catch him.

From the window of the VIP Room 3, Aldebaran put his cigar down. "Confuse him" he commanded.

"Sorry?" the only guard remaining asked.

"Show him why this is the Zodiac Nightclub. Make the Aurora glow over him, that will confuse him."

"And how shall I do that?"

"Get the the DJ working, turn off the 1st floor lights, turn on the dancefloor lights, and them spinning, boy! Hey, you're dumb, fella!"

"Sorry, sir, I'll get right on it"

Just when Jet finally made it to the nightclub and Spike could get to the guys on the floor while Jet took the snipers, everything went a bit harder.

Lights went off. Strange Disco and dancefloor lights started flashing and the Dj started scratching some dense rock music. Everything seemed to be going on slow motion. That would centainly make it more interesting.

"Just what I needed" Spike said out loud before running his fist to a guard's face. The first guard went to the floor. While shooting addressed the dense rock music scratched by the DJ, Spike went from kicks to jabs to kicks on the second guard's body. He finally knocked him out with a blowing kick right on the face. Suddently, the first guard woke up again, but as soon as got on his feet and noticed Spike, he was getting tripped back to it. Then, a body fell from above and landed near the other unconcious ones. The body of the first snipper.

The second sniper got sick and jumped down to the first floor. Spike gladly received him, but this guy was better than the other two rookies, because he blocked Spike's opening move quite well. The third guard tried to punch Spike, but he mauneuvered his fist out of order by picking it and twisting it hard. The third guard backed off a few steps trying to break loose, and that was the moment that Spike chose to let him free, make a jump-kick on the guard's jaw, and head to Aldebaran's office.

Spike stopped and backed aside of the door. He then blasted it open and checked inside, crosshair on anything that moved. Empty. He heard a scream coming from behind him. He turned himself with a low kick, sent it upper and sent to right the last guard.

The music went dead. Spike heard a few claps coming down the hall from which the guard came. Aldebaran came walking, carrying no guns, no items, nothing at all he could use for defense.

"You know why I'm almost never in my office but in Room 3? I always like to look at the show from one of those big windows above the party, rather than zapping security cameras at my office. I saw it all. Up to now" Aldebaran said, "you've done quite well. Maybe I should just give up, let you take me to the Police Station and get your stinkin' cash for the bounty on my head".

"But then you wouldn't be the Aldebaran I'm looking for, would you?" Spike complemented.

"Ha, ha! You got it!" Aldebaran laughed. Spike drew out his second pistol with the left arm, but almost as quick, Aldebaran sent his right arm against it and snapped the pistol out of reach for both. Spike grabbed weapons real hard, Aldebaran didn't snap his hand off for true luck.

"You were gonna point that thing at me without me having any defense? Man, that's rude! That's no way of treating someone. How about a good old, clean fight like you had with my guys. They look like they enjoyed."

"If getting their ass kicked is fun for them..."

"They've reiceived worse from me. Now, how about getting started?"

"Be my guest."

"The funny thing is... you're my guest"  
-  
This scene is based on the Cowboy BeBop Manga chapter called "She's a Rainbow", in which we get to know that Jet is really lousy trying to act like gangters, either chinese or russian, in an attempt to hide his identity. The outfit Spike uses is also from that scene. 


	4. Chapter 4

CHAPTER 4: Hand-to-Hand Many people would've never found out that the warehouse for all the drug merchandise would be just a few steps behind the nightclub,  
pretending to be the supply warehouse of the nightclub. Aldebaran was more than just a pawn-mover, as he knew exactly his way around the warehouse, and without even looking, he turned the lights on.

"Nice place" Spike said.

"Thanks" Aldebaran answered, "okay, so when would you like to start?"

"You just say."

And Aldebaran did say.

Spike ducked Aldebran firsat hit, which finished smasing a wooden box.  
Spike, still low, made a high kick to try to smash Aldebaran's face.  
Aldebaran just picked his leg and threw it foward, sending Spike there too. Spike balanced himself up immediately and went to give it a try again. Aldebaran tried to hit him still, but Spike evaded and opnce again tried to get his face, this time with his left fist. He did hit him, but he barely tilted his head.

Aldebaran tried again to strike, but this time, as soon as he failed,  
he sent his elbow to Spike's ribs, sending him a few steps behind. As soon as Spike got himself together again, he started mixing punches and kicks, but they all seemed to have short effect on Aldebaran.

'He isn't that toned-up' Spike complained to his mind, 'yet he seems like he can drill steel panels'. He tried to think about it while the fighting went on. That's when he thought of a plan. As the kicks and punches dragged on, he left him push him step by step. Finally, at the right point, Spike charged up a serious blow, Aldebaran did too, and when both hits were about to meet (Aldebaran's fist would certainly taer down Spike's), Spike pushed himself to his left, disappearing from Aldebaran's sight and making him smash another wooden box. But this he had hit so hard half of his right arm was stuck inside the box.

Spike took the chance and took the spin for a flying kick right on Aldebaran's head. Partly unconcious, Aldebaran stumbuled his arm out of the box and fell to the floor, with several empty Bloody Eye tubes falling over him.

He got up on his feet in a few seconds and charged to finish off Spike. Spike got a hold on Aldebaran's fist to impulse himself up and land behind him. Aldebaran once again charged against him, and this time too quick for Spike to evade. Another wooden box was broken, but this time Spike's back did the job.

Spike rolled to the left to evade getting up in front of Aldebaran.  
Anyway, Aldebaran chased him to avoid him from getting up, and before he could hit him, Spike jumped up to avoid a direct punch in the face.  
When he could finally stretch, he quickly retracted due to a huge pain near his stomach, where Aldebaran hit him the last time.

Spike tried to lead the attack this time, but once again his normal hits and kicks didn't seem to hurt him much. He made up another plan.

He avoided Aldebaran's punches abd then responded with a series of hits to the face and then a kick, while he was still confused for the hits. When he tried it for the first time, Aldebaran started to bleed down from the face and nose and started moving more clumsily. Spike wasn't in quite an advantage either, since too much stretching with his kicks worsened the pain from Aldebaran's last attack. He got to do it one last time before he made it to the point he couldn't risk another kick or he would be left uncapable to move. Just in that moment, Aldebaran started backing off, but not to run away.

"You got some good moves, lad" Aldebaran babbled out, "but there is a reason why I'm here today. I'm just too strong a business to tear apart. Even of you lock up all my man, as long as the merchandise keeps moving, you'll have me here. And I got the motive right here.  
He showed Spike a tool to apply the eye-consumption drugs. Then he picked one of the Bloody Eye tubes left on the ground. Before Spike could make an ingenious remark, Aldebaran was already appying the Bloody eye to his right eye.

Jet got sick of the beating lights and shot one of them as a way of saying to the DJ to turn them off. The DJ got the message and the normal lights were back on in some seconds. Then, suddently, one man broke inside the door and pointed a gun at Jet's head. Jet stayed still, raised his arms, and dropped his guns.

"That's a good boy" the false bum said, "I want to see no more strange people messing with the party before it even starts."

"Start with this!"

Jet ducked and, by the time the bum fired his pistol, Jet was already grabbing his arm and he threw him foward. The bum, turning in mid-air,  
landed on his face. The blood started to flow from his mouth to the ground when Jet picked him up and starte looking for some answers.

"Where are the drugs?" he asked yelling staright to his right ear.

"Don't know!!" the bum shouted.

"Sorry, couldn't haer that one right" he said and send the guy's head to collision with his forehead, then let him fall. He watched not to step on him and went down to the end of the hall, where Spike had gone.

Spike was backing off this time, but he was trying avoid Aldebaran. He had never dealed with a guy that was using the Bloody Eye, and if it made him more strong than what he already was, that meant no good.

Aldebaran was indeed a bit more fast and strong, but now he had a slower reaction to things, as he seemed a bit clumsy when he chased Spike and couldn't cut corners in time. With that in mind, Spike got another idea, this time to wipe him out. Getting the best of his footworrk, he lost Aldebaran long enough to get above the piles of boxes. Confused, Aldebaran searched freneticaly around.

Then, in the right moment, he would jump back down and make a kick in front of Aldebaran, surprising him. And he wouldn't be able to react on time to avoid it.

That was the plan. Plans and reality don't match this time. Why? Jet.

Just in the moment he had Aldebaran where he wanted, Jet showed up at the entrance, just to the left of where Aldebaran was standing. So,  
when Jet said "Hey!" and got Aldebaran's attention, Spike made his kick in the wrong place, only taking him down, but not knocking him unconcious.

However, Aldebaran's fall made him hit the wooden box at the bottom of the pile, making a whole column go down. Spike bearly made it out in time.

The Zodiac Nightclub and the street that lead to it were the only affected sites, but the whole satellite was closed down by the ISSP.  
Jet and Spike tried to get ahead of it and turned the guy to the police booth near the terminal, took the money, and took off.

Maybe something Spike didn't notice at the time was that the bounty had been cut half due to the huge disturbance caused, besides the fact that Jet had blown off a couple of walls with the grenade. Checking out all the expenses, Jet and Spike had made some lousy 1,376,000 woolongs for the guy. The only thing Spike ever noticed was the fine for taking the BeBop inside Cosmos.

With that, the bounty at the other side of the system was just worth 756,320 woolongs.

Back at the BeBop, Jet finally decided to leave aside his coffee-time existencialism chats and fall for some sleep. Spike went to the cockpit to meditate, but before that, he picked Jet's thermus flask of coffee and threw it to the trash can, with anything that Jet used or could use to make more.

"Buddy" Spike murmured to Jet when he was already sleeping, "smoking is already too bad a habbit for you. Let's leave it that way".

A.J 


End file.
